Amidst declining support for the federal Liberals and a poll suggesting Canadians believe the Conservative Party will be more effective, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced a suite of measures to increasing housing and affordability.
Trudeau says the federal government will incentivize the construction of much-needed rental homes by introducing legislation to remove the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the construction of new apartment buildings for renters. Ottawa is also calling on provinces that currently apply provincial sales taxes or the provincial portion of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) to rental housing matching the federal rebate for new rental housing.
To support small business owners and their workers, the Prime Minister also announced his government will make changes to the Canada Emergency Business Account program, a pandemic measure that helped small businesses stay afloat, including by extending the term loan repayment deadline by one year.
To address the escalating price of groceries for people, Trudeau is urging major grocery store chains to stabilize grocery prices in the near term.
To address this, the leaders of the largest grocery chains in Canada have been called to an immediate meeting in Ottawa to begin discussions toward this goal.
“We are also looking at all tools at our disposal, and we are not ruling out the use of tax measures, in order to restore the grocery price stability that Canadians expect,” a statement from the PMO said.
The federal government also promised to take immediate steps to enhance competition across the Canadian economy, with a focus on the grocery sector, which would help drive down costs for middle-class Canadians.
The government intends to introduce a first set of legislative amendments to the Competition Act to empower the Competition Bureau with powers to take action against collaborations that stifle competition and consumer choice, in particular situations where large grocers prevent smaller competitors from establishing operations nearby.
“We made a commitment to stand up for the middle class, and we will not stop fighting until everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed,” Trudeau said. “As we head into a new Parliamentary session next week, we remain focused on the things that matter most to Canadians: making life more affordable and creating good, middle-class jobs now and into the future.”
